Friday, 17 February 2012

'Up the Greek without a paddle' European leaders sling mud while investors wait

'LONDON (SHARECAST) - When politicians can’t get the job done, there’s always mud-slinging to entertain the troops … even when most of the troops are busy in Athens burning buildings … or German flags.

GREECE STEPS INTO THE RING

Greek President Karolos Papoulias has had enough of Germany’s insults and staged his own verbal attack against Berlin’s Finance Minister Wolgang Schäuble.

“I won’t accept insults to my country by Mr. Schäuble. I won’t take it as a Greek. Who is Mr. Schäuble? Who are these Dutch? Who are these Finns?

“We always had the pride to defend not just our own freedom, not only our own country, but the freedom of Europe as a whole,” he said.

These fighting words follow comments made by Schäuble comparing Greece to a “bottomless pit” where Germany was throwing its money away.

GREECE HAS ALSO SLUNG INSULTS

Yet it wouldn’t be fair to say that insults haven’t been thrown from the other side as well. We’ve certainly seen on the evening news the blazing fires in Athens, not just of buildings but also of German flags. Greek citizens involved in the strikes are anything but content over Germany’s attempt to “take control” of its country.

The easy shots at Berlin have also been made with pro-strike propaganda featuring Angela Merkel dressed in a Nazi uniform. In this context, it might not be surprising to note that the German Chancellor seems to have slipped from the front pages.

Her lack of comments is quite conspicuous by its absence, especially while most articles are quick to mention other little “facts” like, for example, that Papoulias fought in the World War II Greek resistance against the Nazi occupation.